Although the Oculus Rift has become the icon for virtual reality-esque gaming, other developers have shown an interest in the future of gaming as well. Experimental psychologist Mike Ambinder recently explained Valve’s foray into one of the more popular gaming wives tales: controlling games psychologically. It may look like science fiction at first glance, but the possibility is credible enough to warrant investigation—at least Valve thinks so.

As VentureBeat explains, Ambinder was researching how player signals could impact gameplay. Far from a controller, however, those signals were things like eye movement, pulse rate, perspiration, and expression—all of which would directly affect gameplay in any number of ways. Ambinder directly stated that they are very interested “in the notion of biofeedback and how it can be applied game design.”

It’s a far cry from marketable, but it’s certainly refreshing to see developers invest into the unlikely, even marginally. Who knows; maybe we’ll actually be able to argue with our god-awful NPC partner someday.